(Finance) – The winter holidays are approaching, but planning a last minute departure is still complicated due to the lack of possibility of issuing and renewing the passport.
Ten months of waiting in Venice, almost eight in Bolzano, seven in Cagliari just to have an appointment at the police station to get or renew the passport. Furthermore, in 6 cities up 17 it wasn’t even possible to book the appointment: Bologna, Genoa, Milan, Pordenone, Potenza and Turin. The most efficient cities are Perugia, where the first appointment is even the next day, and Pescara.
One year after the first survey, Altroconsumo updated the investigation relating to passports, trying to book an appointment for the issue on the ministerial platform which provides availability at the police stations present within the province.
From the new findings on waiting times in 17 cities (Ancona, Bari, Bologna, Bolzano, Genoa, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Perugia, Pescara, Pordenone, Potenza, Reggio Calabria, Rome, Turin and Venice), carried out on 14 November, it emerges that nothing has changed, on the contrary, the situation has changed it has even gotten worse in many cities.
Not only are waiting times very long, but the costs are also very high for citizens: the Italian passport is among the most expensive in Europe, even that for minors which has a shorter duration. In Italy, in fact, obtaining or renewing a passport costs 116 euros.
Italians, in fact, spend almost four times as much as Spaniards (30 euros) and almost double the Germans (60 euros). However, much more than the French (86 euros), the English (82.50) and the Dutch (77.87 euros). Only Portugal fares worse than our country, given that the passport costs 65 euros but is valid for only 5 years, with an annual cost (13 euros) which is slightly higher than that of the Italian passport (11.60 euros).
Altroconsumo has launched a petition to ask institutions to take action to shorten times and reduce costs for get your passport
(Photo: Cristof Echard – © European Union)